Bran Castle
Photo credit: (c) BOGDAN BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Peasants’ fortresses of Rasnov and Rupea were built prior to the settlement of Teutonic Knights in the region. Fagaras had its first fortification before Transylvanian ruling prince Stefan Mailat thought of having a stronghold residence there. Brasov, a citadel, has each bastion named for the Transylvanian Saxons’ trade guild that built, equipped and maintained it. The Bran Castle is first mentioned in a 1377 document of the chancellery of Louis I of Anjou, King of Hungary, who granted Transylvanian Saxons the privilege of building a new stone fortress, at their own expense; it was endowed with serf villages to maintain the building and the garrison.

Recent economic value has added lately to the historical heritage. Brasov and Bran have established tourist reputations; the peasant fortress of Rasnov has 200,000 visitors per year; the fortress of Rupea, a ruin for many years, has been restored in 2009, on European funds, and now attracts tenths of thousands of tourists annually, as part of international circuits.

Fortress of Rasnov
Photo credit: (c) SIMION MECHNO / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Some theories say the fortress of Rasnov, placed as a sentry above the town, was built also with the contribution of neighbouring villages of Vulcan and Cristian. The Teutonic Knights left the region in 1225, leaving a wooden fortification; local peasants maintained it and then rebuilt it using stone, most probably during the second half of the 13th century. The first document mentioning it refers to the Mongol invasion of 1335. Rasnov also resisted the Turks a couple of times. In 1421, they plundered Brasov, which was still undefended by a citadel of its own. Rasnov had walls five metres tall, with eight bastions. The fortification was divided into a court or garden, and the inside dwellings, with more than 80 rooms identified so far. For centuries, it lacked its own source of water, a weakness that proved fatal in 1612, when the army of Prince Gabriel Bathory sieged it. Several years later, in 1623, Saxon craftsmen were contracted to dig a well; it took them 17 years to find water, 146 metres deep.

The fortress of Rasnov is now the stage of many cultural events, such as festivals and medieval fairs, historical film and children music festivals, etc., organized by the municipality. It has become the thirds tourist attraction in Brasov County, next only to the Bran Castle and the Black Church of Brasov City.

The fortress of Fagaras was built above an older wooden fortification of the 12th century, defended by a ditch and a rampart. It was destroyed by a disastrous fire. The building of the stone and brick fortification began in the late 14th century; the four-side shape with towers in the corners had an outpost to the east. Stefan Mailat strengthened it between 1520 and 1541, doubling the inside wall and adding a gate barbican and another floor on the southern side, known as ‘Mailat’s houses.’ He became Prince of Transylvania in 1534, but his plans eventually failed and he ended in a prison of Constantinople.

Fortress of Fagaras
Photo credit: (c) SIMION MECHNO / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

By then, Fagaras already had a reputation of hard-to-conquer; princes Gabriel Bethlen (1613-1629) and Gheorghe Rakoczi (1633-1648) further strengthen its fortifications and provided interior works, making it fit for its new status of princely residence. Towers evolved into strong bastions, and the space between the two walls was filled with earth. A guard barrack was built; the ditch was extended and filled with water from the Olt River. The interior decorations somehow softened the military appearance, adding open balconies, arches and pillars, wall decorations, etc. The fortress registries mention 80 rooms. The domain included 50 villages, and the citadel still stands proof of the importance of Fagaras in the Middle Ages. Recent renovations resulted in a gradually increasing tourist inflow.

Brasov’s tours are other historical tourist attractions. The 1,600 square
meters Weavers’ Bastion, built between 1421 and 1573, is unique in southeastern Europe, in terms of architecture and configuration. Since 1950, it hosts the Museum of the Barsei Land. The exhibition’s focal points are the models of the Citadel of Brasov and of the Schei neighbourhood, the way they looked at the end of the 16th century. During summer, the tower also hosts chamber music concerts and medieval festivals.

The Drapers’ Bastion was actually built by the Goldsmiths’ Guild, between 1450 and 1455; it is 20 metres high and has a diameter of 16 metres. The Drapers’ Guild took over it — and the defence of the fortifications on the outskirts of Tampa Hill — only in 1640.

The Ironsmiths’ Bastion guards the northwest corner of the citadel. It replaced an earlier tower, destroyed by floods in 1526. Water and fire damage occurred again there in 1667; partial reconstruction followed. As its military importance declined, it was given several other uses; it hosts the State Archives since 1938.

Panoramic view of Brasov City’s Black Church
Photo credit: (c) ALEX TUDOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The Graft Bastion was named after the creek coming from Schei, after works turned it into a channel, called Graft in Transylvanian Saxons’ language. The Saddlers’ Guild erected it on two floors between 1515 and 1521. Damages and restorations followed, until the latest renovation of 2004-2005, which also restored the access to the White Tower on a stairway up the hill.

The Black Tower got its name after a fire caused by a lightning on July 23 1559. It was allegedly built in the 14th century, and its high position on rocky terrain made it fit both for observation and for interior guarding. Its isolation proved useful during the 1756 plague, when it hosted the guards that enforced the quarantine of the city. The 2003 renovation added it to the list of tourist attractions, along with the White Tower, restored in 2000.

Black Tower
Photo credit: (c) GEORGE CALIN / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The White Tower is the other defence tower on the Warthe Hill; it was mentioned in documents in 1460 and 1494. Originally, two guilds contributed to its maintenance — the tinsmiths and the coppersmiths; the former left the association in 1678, after paying a compensation for their obligations.

When it comes to Brasov County castles, Bran is by far the most famous; in Romania, only the Peles Castle of Sinaia (Prahova County) has more visitors. More than 450,000 tourists are lured to Bran by the mirage of legends, stronger than factual history — nothing proves that Prince Vlad the Impaler ever lived here, yet the castle is identified as Dracula’s. It seems to grow out the rock; it guards the Bran-Rucar pass between Transylvania and Wallachia, taken by Middle East merchants to bring their goods to Brasov.

After the aforementioned privilege granted by King Louis of Hungary in 1377, Bran was quickly built and completed probably around 1382. History and politics subsequently gave it to German Emperor and Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxemburg, which used it as a base for the army sent to support Wallachia’s Mircea the Elder in his feud against Vlad the Usurper in 1395. In 1407, Sigismund gives it to Mircea to seal their alliance against the Turks. A couple of decades later, the Seat of Brasov cedes the ownership of the castle to the Hungarian Crown, which funded extension and maintenance works, before renting it back to Brasov at the end of the century. The city bought it back in the 17th century, taking advantage of the financial problems of the Transylvanian administration. In 1920, the municipal council of Brasov gave Bran to Queen Mary of Romania, as a sign of gratitude for her involvement in the Romanian Union of 1918. In 2009, the Romanian state restored the rights of historic heirs and gave it to Archduke Dominic of Hapsburg, which kept it in the tourist circuit. The state-owned collections hosted by the Bran Castle were moved to the Customs Museum nearby.

The fortress of Rupea, a town on the border between Brasov and Mures counties, was preceded by the Dacian fortifications of Ramidava or Rumidava.

Fortress of Rupea
Photo credit: (c) SIMION MECHNO / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The Romans built a castrum they called Rupes (Rocks), the origin of the present Romanian name. Works at the fortress began in 10th century; it grew as a stone spiral with successive enclosures, guarded by polygon-shaped towers. It was a peasant fortress, with three distinct sections — upper, middle and bottom. Abandoned after a fire in 1643, it was used again as a refuge from plague in 1716. Locals finally relinquished it in 1790, allegedly after a storm blew away its roofs. Restoration was attempted in 1954, but communist authorities were rather prone to demolish it, seeing it only as a sort of basalt stone. Fortunately escaping this fate, it stood visible from the national road to Sighisoara. European funds helped renovating it after 2009, giving it its new look, more attractive to tourists.

Fortress of Feldioara
Photo credit: (c) SIMION MECHNO / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Local and county authorities financed the rehabilitation of the fortress of Feldioara — a work in progress. A 1439 document states that the villagers of Feldioara built it ‘with big expense and labour’. The very name of their village comes from the Hungarian word ‘foldvar’, meaning ‘earth fortress.’ AGERPRES